Hiatus of Frugal Fitness | Changepot Progress

June 5th, 2006 at 11:00 am

Well, at least five days are better than 0 days, right? I have learned to control my spending somewhat and the points system thrives for my two frugal fans.

Changepot Progress:
It's been 236 days since I began picking up change and tossing it into a jar. The rules are strict: No fountain coins, no money found at home, no spending in case of emergency. Zip. Zilch. Our total increased significantly this past May. The total inside the changepot today is: $230.66

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The $100 bill looks so lonely there in the jar! I know we'll never be able to find another bill of such high denomination but it was certainly EXCITING. I was able to feel like a real winner for the first time ever in Atlantic City!

3 Responses to “Hiatus of Frugal Fitness | Changepot Progress”

I don't imagine I am the only one with a dropped jaw after reading this! Congratulations on this free money! It is so rare for me to find anything but a penny. I still remember the one time in my life that I even found paper money. It was $20 and I felt so blessed because it was at a time when my only job was part time minimum wage and I was living with my unemployed mother, unemployed two brothers and unemployed sister. It was a terrible time. We were desperate. I was in the right place to find the money because I was walking the six miles home from my school because I was trying to save the $0.75 that the bus cost! Even with that find, I still walked home.

I know what you mean, Joan! It's odd how it all started really. I was reading through finance blogs last year and stumbled across one that made me re-evaluate money on the floor (especially pennies). Funny, we are all so used to walking right past them but here's the thing we often forget: one hundred of them makes one dollar. I bet many people have passed by hundreds of them this year alone. Pennies are the most underrated coins in our currency. Ever since October, I have made every effort to pick up pennies, dimes, nickels, quarters- everything that has monetary value. I have found British Pence, Canadian money, and some asian coin I have yet to identify. I will take a picture of my jar and include it in this blog so everyone could see how quickly it fills up when you don't spend it.

Here's how to do it:

Tip #1 Get everyone in your family involved: My family (Hubby, my two daughters, my mom, and myself) all carry little plastic coin holders. Each coin found is put in there (no mixing with their own money). At the end of the day, they each give me their finds and tell me more or less where they found it. Some places yield more coins, others are as dry as a desert. I tend to list the places where I find the most change in order to help folks find similar areas in their neighborhoods.

Tip #2: The key is to be nonchalant when picking up change- as some folks do get apprehensive when they see you've found change worthy enough to bend down and retrieve.

Tip #3: Make it easier for kids by buying a jr. metal detector. We purchased two national geographic metal detectors for my children early last month. They use the detectors at parks and open fields (you'd be surprised just how many quarters live underneath the surface!!) with great results. The machines have paid for themselves twice over thus far.

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